CHIA OIL SUPPLEMENTATION CHANGES BODY COMPOSITION AND LIPID PROFILE IN HEALTHY AND PROGRAMMED BY EARLY WEANING ADULT RATS

Breastfeeding is very important for correct child development, being characterized as an exclusive source of nutrition for infants until the first six months of age, in addition to conferring benefits on child health and preventive properties against the emergence of chronic diseases in adulthood caused by early weaning (EW). Nutritional intervention with supplementation with vegetable oils, such as chia oil, can be a good strategy in the treatment of these diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate whether chia oil supplementation is able to change the body composition and lipid profile of healthy and programmed by EW animals. One hundred and twenty male offspring Rattus novergicus (Wistar) from healthy and programmed by EW animals (males and females). At 150 days postnatal (PN 150), healthy animals were divided into 3 control (C) experimental groups: saline group, gavage with saline solution (C); soybean oil group, gavage with soybean oil (CSO); chia oil group, gavage with chia oil (CCO). The animals programmed by EW were also divided into 3 experimental groups: group EW, gavage with saline solution (EW); group EW soybean oil, gavage with soybean oil (EWSO); group EW chia oil, gavage with chia oil (EWCO). At PN 150, animals received commercial diet ad libitum and gavage for 30 consecutive days with respective oils (dose of 0.5 ml of oil/100 g body weight) until 180 days postnatal (PN 180). At PN 180, body composition (DXA), body mass and lipid profile were evaluated. Results were expressed as mean+SEM, statistical significance One-way ANOVA and Newman Keuls post-test (p<0.05). All procedures were approved by the Ethics Committee for the Use of Animals /UFF (CEUA nº 9204110520). At PN 150, in the offspring of males, an increase in body mass was observed in the EW group when compared to the C group; however, in the offspring of females, there was no difference between the groups. At PN 180, chia oil supplementation increased body mass in the CCO group and bone area in EWCO group and decreased triglyceride in CCO group in the offspring of females. In the offspring of males, were observed an increase in bone area, in body fat percentage and in triglyceride in EWCO group. Supplementation with chia oil showed a gender dysmorphism. In healthy and programmed for early weaning female offspring, there was an increase in body parameters and a tendency to improve the lipid profile in healthy offspring. On the other hand, in males offspring, no change was observed in body mass in both healthy offspring and programmed offspring, but there was a worsening of the lipid profile in animals programmed for early weaning. Therefore, chia oil supplementation may be an important nutritional strategy, due to higher amount bioactive compounds which can modulate body mass and lipid profile gender-dependent.